Around the Campfire
by pyrorbl
Summary: a nighttime scene between Celes and Sabin - because even after the end of the world, you still have your friends.


**Author's Notes : **This is a story I've made in my head for some time now; I finally managed to get it written! This is a little scene between Sabin and Celes in the World of Ruin. I'd always thought it was amusingly odd that the first person Celes finds is Sabin. This takes place after they leave Mobliz, Terra staying behind. It deals with a number of issues in the game, and while I think I rush it in parts, I'm quite pleased with most of it. Send feedback to rje@rice.edu. Enjoy!  
  
**Disclaimer : **You know the drill - Final Fantasy VI and all its characters don't belong to me, they belong to the Gods of RPGs, Squaresoft. I'm just doing this for the sheer thrill of writing.  
  
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**Around the Campfire**  
  
  


Nighttime was eerily quiet after the end of the world. The dull roar of the sea barely intruded on Celes' senses, absorbed as she was by their small fire and her own brooding.

Sabin, having decided that the rabbit was sufficiently cooked, wolfed his portion down without waiting for it to cool. His pained howling pulled her out of her thoughts of betrayal and disappointment.

"Why don't you ever let your food cool down?" she asked him, quirking an eyebrow at the fighter who refused to learn. "Your tongue would thank you for it."

Sabin's full-bodied laugh unabashedly cut into the night's stillness. "But that wouldn't be any challenge! I need to show the food who's boss." He waggled his eyebrows at her suggestively. "Besides, what does it matter to you if my tongue's in top-shape or not?"

She made a noise of disgust and turned her gaze back to the fire. Even in the reddish glow that surrounded her, though, he could make out the faint blush on her cheeks. He chuckled softly. "You women - Terra couldn't ever take my teasing either."

Celes hunched her shoulders, retreating into herself and behind the icy mask she'd worn as a general. She became lost in the fire again, her face revealing nothing. Except for her eyes - Sabin could tell it wasn't just the fire's reflection flashing there.

He sighed to himself and leaned back slightly. _So that's what's been bothering her_, he thought. Ever since Mobliz had disappeared from their view, Celes had slowly receded more and more into brooding. He'd thought it was just their general situation - not to mention that ordinarily Celes wasn't the most happy-go-lucky of people - but to be this unresponsive for this long had begun to make him wonder.

"She'll come around, Celes. She just needs... time. But at least for now she's happy, and she has a purpose." Overhead through the smoke starlight flickered dimly, as pale and cold as the woman sitting across from him. "The end of the world isn't an easy thing to live through. And she was always so confused; I can only imagine how messed up she must feel right now. But she needs to sort it through herself." He paused before reiterating, "Just give her time."

Celes turned from the fire, gently resting her cheek on her knee, still refusing to look at him. She gazed off into the distance for a moment, letting what little she saw fill her mind. There was no vegetation in sight, and that wasn't just because it was dark. The two of them were surrounded by nothing but the sea and the dusty, dying earth.

"Except we don't _have_ time, Sabin," she said at last. The rush of the waves sounded quieter to her, as if the sea itself was losing the will to keep going. "The planet's dying. It's only a matter of time until everything dries up, and then it won't matter whether we defeat Kefka or not. We need her, Sabin. How can she be so selfish?"

"But then again, Celes," he countered, "we don't have any right to take her away from those children. They're all she has now; how could we just abandon them to their fate, taking away their last protector?"

"That's just it!" At last Celes looked up, the fire shining righteously in her eyes. "She's _not_ protecting them - she's not helping them at all! At any moment Kefka could blast Mobliz into oblivion and she wouldn't be able to do a damn thing about it! She wants to keep those kids safe - then she needs to _fight_ to make them safe! Until Kefka is destroyed, our lives are in _his_ hands, not our own. Why doesn't she understand that? If she wants to protect those children, why doesn't she _fight_?"

Sabin simply looked at her levelly. Part of him was shocked that the typically-reserved warrior was being so demonstrative. Celes typically only revealed a fraction of what she was actually feeling, which spoke volumes to how much Terra's refusal must rankle her. But there was no denying she was right; until Kefka was dead no one would be able to truly rebuild their lives.

Silence fell over their campsite. For one quiet moment, Sabin wished that his brother were there. Edgar had all the charm and training a king needed; he would be able to lift Celes' mood, through nothing else but his own attempts at flirting, if need be. Sabin just felt awkward.

"I'm sorry," she offered at last. "You didn't deserve that; you're trying as hard as you can." She laughed a little, and he noted gladly that the bitter edge of it had lessened from earlier in the day. "What an odd pair we make."

Sabin laughed with her. "A body-builder and a Magitek traitor... yep, we do make quite a pair." His thin smile grew more genuine when he saw her face had relaxed, her eyes calmly reflecting the fire in front of her. "But damn I'm glad you're here! If it wasn't for your magic, I think the rabbits would be eating me tonight instead of the other way around."

She smiled, one of her real smiles which typically only came out when Locke was around. "Same goes for me." She threw a small pebble at him as her smile widened. "Of course, if you weren't here, I'd probably be holed up in some town, sleeping in a warm, soft bed."

Sabin scoffed. "Beds?! Beds make you weak!" He flexed one of his arms, a teasing smile playing on his lips. "You don't get to be this strong and manly by indulging in _beds_."

Celes smirked. "Just what I always wanted - to be strong and manly. Now I know what I've been doing wrong all these years."

"Just give me time," he winked. "Then _you_'ll be able to carry _Locke_ over the threshold."

At the mention of that name, she stilled and the light in her eyes dimmed. Her smile faded, and without it Sabin suddenly felt how cold the middle of nowhere was.

__

Aw, hell, he thought, mentally smacking himself upside the head. Just when things were going so well and she had stopped tormenting herself for a few minutes... Sabin knew he wasn't the most tactful person around, but why of all times did he have to let his tongue slip _now_?

"Ah, I shouldn't have mentioned him. I'm sorry - sometimes I just don't think before - "

"No, it's ok," she interrupted him. "We weren't lovers, or anything like that."

Sabin frowned. "You... but I thought you two had feelings for each other...?"

"He's still in love with Rachel," she said simply.

He hadn't been with them when Celes and Locke had visited Locke's hometown, but he remembered somewhat vaguely what Edgar had told him from that trip. "The dead girl," he said flatly. She opened her mouth in protest, but he wouldn't allow her to speak. "Then he's a fool, Celes. A man would have to be crazier than Kefka to choose anyone over you."

She closed her mouth, clearly taken aback at his words. And then for the first time, he _really_ looked at her.

Her quiet strength and resolve were so different from his own brute force. She was without a doubt a woman worthy of respect, strength and determination clearly radiating from her. And despite her at-times icy countenance, she did possess a heart of gold. It hit Sabin then that he really meant what he said; she deserved happiness, probably more than any of them. And if Locke was too stupid to see how lucky he was, Sabin would personally beat the knowledge into him.

Celes smiled slightly then, a wan smile that nonetheless drained some of the tension from the air. "Thank you," was all she said.

Sabin let out his breath, rolling one shoulder to loosen the tightness that had quickly gathered there. "Don't mention it. I'm not very good at this sort of thing; this is more up Edgar's alley. I'm just a muscle man." He tilted his head slightly, a move that Edgar had said women found "charming," and gave a friendly smile. 

Celes gave a strange half-laugh, half-snort. "He could use some lessons, though. He doesn't seem to do too well in his flirtations."

"Oh, you don't know the half of it." He got up and began laying out their bedrolls, telling her stories of his brother's adventures as they cleaned up the campsite. The night felt almost alive with their laughter ringing out, and at one point Celes could have sworn she'd heard crickets chirping cheerfully in the distance.

Sabin sat next to her when he finished, both of them watching the diminishing fire, neither quite ready to go to sleep and give up the warmth between them. In the comfort of companionship, the rest of the world didn't feel like it had ended quite yet.

Celes looked over at him, once again allowing her emotions to show. "I'm glad that you're here," she said, really meaning, _I'm glad that you're alive._

He looked down at her, and on impulse grabbed her upper arm gently. "Hey, now, don't get all sad on me. I'm glad you're here, too, but just you wait - we'll find the others soon."

She looked into the night before asking, "You really think so?"

"Hell yes," he said, vehement even for him. "Yeah, the planet is dying, yeah, a lot of people are dead... But, Celes, that doesn't mean that hope is dead, too." To emphasize his point he squeezed her arm gently. "We'll find them."

She looked down at his hand, warm and real on her skin, and let herself go. For a moment she felt as she did standing on that cliff on Solitary Island, letting herself go and believing in herself and her friends, believing in the possibility of a future. She smiled and nodded.

The night wasn't really that dark as they went to bed, the dim fire between them lighting the sky.

**Back to Descent :: Home**


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